American Airlines Hires Former Union Leader As Consultant, Stirring Controversy

On the final day of voting for a new president of the union that represents American flight attendants, perhaps the biggest controversy involves the former president, Laura Glading.

To her admirers, Glading is a labor movement hero because she was instrumental in enabling the 2013 merger between American and US Airways, which led to better pay and benefits for her members.

But to detractors, Glading is a traitor because, after retiring in October following 37 years as an American flight attendant, she was asked to work as a consultant for the airline, seeking better enforcement of Open Skies treaties so that they do not result in the loss of jobs for union members.

Most flight attendants learned of Glading’s new job late Thursday, in an email to union members from Marcus Gluth, the current president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants. The letter began with this sentence: “I am writing to you this evening to inform you of a disgusting betrayal.

“Late yesterday, I confirmed with American Airlines management that the company has hired Laura Glading as a consultant,” Gluth wrote. “This is the ultimate display of disloyalty from a former APFA national president. I am sure that I speak for many of us when I express my complete outrage and disgust.”

Glading’s employment by American is so outrageous and disgusting, Gluth wrote, that he has called an emergency meeting of the union’s board of directors to formulate a response. Additionally, Gluth said he has launched an investigation “to determine whether any quid pro quo was offered by the company” when Glading worked as union president.

Glading’s choice of a new career “undermines the credibility of union leaders,” Gluth said, and means that “She cannot even be called on for advice or guidance by future national presidents {because} everything is now tainted.”

The outrage continued Saturday, when the APFA board of directors wrote another letter, calling American’s employment of Glading’s consulting firm “reprehensible behavior.

“We view her traitorous actions as having cast a dark shadow on the credibility of our entity,” the board said. “The very fact that our company would enter into any business relationship with the ex-APFA national president we believe underscores the disdain they have for our organization and any future relationship.”

The board said it will meet next week “to explore any and all options arising out of the improprieties that have occurred.”

One American flight attendant, who asked not to be named, said the problem is that Glading’s new post “confirms her cozy relationship with management ---- We got sold out and she continues to be rewarded.”

In an interview, Glading said she decided to retire after 37 years and to do something different. She didn’t want to continue as a flight attendant, even though her seniority would have brought her an extremely desirable schedule as well as relatively high pay.

Rather, she wanted to do something that would benefit the workers she has long championed. She was in the final stages of setting up a company when the airline offered her a role.

“I don’t think the flight attendants should be angry or distrustful {when} I will do something that will so directly help them,” Glading said. In her new job, she will work to ensure that Open Skies treaties are not used by the three Middle East airlines – Emirates, Etihad and Qatar – to dump capacity in the U.S., limiting the ability of the three global U.S. airlines – American, Delta, and United – to profitably operate international routes and to employ union workers.

“I want to protect jobs and protect U.S. aviation,” Glading said. “I can’t imagine that anyone in the aviation business today wouldn’t want an all hands on deck approach to the Open Skies problem.”

Glading said Gluth’s letter is “not accurate” and “gives a false impression of what I’m doing.”

She called the plan for an investigation “ludicrous {and} a waste of money,” partially because the U.S. Department of Justice has already subpoenaed her emails and deposed her, as well as various executives and others, when it sought to block the American/US Airways merger with a lawsuit.

It is part of the history of the airline union movement that almost inevitably, leaders involved in signing groundbreaking deals are later excoriated for not making even better deals.

After American filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011, the America West management team that was running US Airways sought union support for a deal that would enable it to replace American’s existing management team and to provide bankruptcy and contract terms that were friendlier to labor.

Dave Bates and Jim Little, who led the Allied Pilots Association and the Transport Workers Union, backed the deals and were quickly ousted. Glading outlasted them, but was forced by her union’s board to step down as president in October, a few months before her second term ended.

The practice of former union leaders going to work for the company is also not unprecedented. One recent example involves Bill McGlashen, who helped to form the Association of Flight Attendants chapter at America West, then went to work as an American labor spokesman. McGlashen died in 2014. Additionally, Leslie Mayo, who works on internal communications for American, is a former APFA official.

Glading acknowledged that some flight attendants may question her life’s course, but reiterated “My loyalty has always been to employees and to flight attendants and still is.” Nothing is wrong with flight attendants doing other things, she said: “My dream is for a flight attendant to become a CEO.”

Labor unions, Glading said, “are the foundation of the middle class, and the middle class is the foundation of our country and our economy.” The APFA, she said, ought not to be engaged in “putting up a glass ceiling” for a former leader when, after all, “our profession has been breaking down barriers for women for 50 years.”

Laura Glading, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), speaks at a rally in New York in 2012. Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg